Impacts of e-government according to the structure of public authorities By Maika Fieguth

Introduction Summary The term paper analyse how e-government benefits and changes the structure of public authorities. The focus is on the local authority. Potentials and barriers will be presented.

Introduction Term definition E-government is „the business activity of public administrative agencies in correlation with the governance and adminstration reliant upon information and communication techniques under participation of citizens and internal administrative communications partners“ (so-called Speyer-definition). The structure of public authorities includes responsibilities, competences, organisational units, internal and external workflow.

Agenda 1. Introduction 3. Impacts 4. Barriers 5. Final comment 2. Potentials

Potentials Survey Information Communication Transaction Integration Rationalization

Potentials Information Current information is independent of time and place. Considerable knowledge data bases are available. Useful tools are: Web portals, homepages and databases „Responsibility-finder“ Automated self-recording

Potentials Communication Direct contact is possible independent of time, territorial constraints can be abolished. External and internal communication is more efficient. Contact forms and s allow to contact the responsible official directly. Virtual mail-administrating centres

Potentials Transaction E-government allows the electronic implementation of complex transactions  E-service like booking an adult education course (VHS) or the electronic dunning procedure  Case study: „Elster“ Effect: Using only one media reduces the processing time, background processes will be streamlined.

Potentials Integration Better cooperation among governmental units over distance and with third parties Ocassional involvement of non-governmental third parties  Benefit: Sometimes external service providers are closer to the client‘s problem und more specialized.

Potentials Rationalization Automation of administrative procedures  Software runs the complete processing of applications. Parallelization  Different officials can access the electronic documentation at the same time. Economization  Personel cutback

Agenda 1. Introduction 2. Potentials 4. Barriers 5. Final comment 3. Impacts

Impacts on the structure of public authorities Survey Organisational impacts Processual impacts Impact to the self-image

Impacts on the structure of public authorities Organisational impacts Redesign of organisational structures and administrative competences  Stronger delegation of responsibility  Personal responsibility rises  Streamlining quality assurance  Less hierarchy levels and bigger organisational units  Process-oriented organisation-modells with more team and project work

Impacts on the structure of public authorities Organisational impacts Changing of the organisational form  Division in organisational units The units specialize in subject or product. Example: Separation between front and back office Case study: ArGe  Classical structures of a closed system (line organisation) combined with networked structures of an open system (networked organisation). Networked structures create extra interfaces.

Organisational impacts Closed System (linie organisation) Project leader Subproject leader 1Subproject leader 2 Member subproject 1 Member subproject 2

Organisational Impacts Open system (networked organisation) Project leader Subproject leader1 Member subproject 1 Subproject leader 2 Member subproject 2

Impacts on the structure of public authorities Processual impacts Increase in efficiency Elimenation of processes which don‘t add value  E.g. joint underwriting, unneeded partizipation and quality insurrance, media disruption Software replaces automatically simple routine jobs Better technical support

Impacts on the structure of public authorities Processual impacts Workflow  Customer-relationship-management-systems (CRM)  IT-surported workflow systems E-service  Online transactions  Online acces to information  Electronic marketspace

Impacts on the structure of public authorities Impact to the self-image The changed self-image of public authorities  Public authorities perceive themselves as service providers.  The citizen is perceived as a customer.  Effect: More flexible organisational structures, more service orientation

Agenda 1. Introduction 2. Potentials 5. Final comment 3. Impacts 4. Barriers

Barriers Survey User-side Authority-side Legal barriers

Barriers User-side Lack of knowledge about e-government applications Lack of general acceptance within the population Lack of internet access

Barriers Authority-side Only rare cooperations between authorities Financial concerns Management deficit Qualification deficit Motivation deficit

Barriers Legal Barriers Right of self-administration, Art. 28 par. 2 GG (Constitution of the Federal Republic of Germany) Constraints of competences Data protection

Agenda 1. Introduction 2. Potentials 5. Final comment 3. Impacts 4. Barriers

Final comment Result More transparency of administrative agencies More independence of time and place Better engineered processes Reduction of holding time and required wait time Improved citizen service

Final comment Result E-service and workflow is growing. Public authorities increasingly cognize the potentials of e-government, but because of the mentioned barriers the implementation still takes place slowly.

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